Burma's Poppy Trail
罂粟仍在缅甸蔓延

During the past half century the remote and often lawless region where Burma, Laos and Thailand meet has become known and widely romanticised as the 'Golden Triangle'. [请翻译]

Originally a Western designation applied to the region because of its wealth in gems, lumber and, above all, opium, the name has stuck and is today widely accepted. By reputation, by very definition, the area is off the beaten track. The home of drug warlords, arms dealers, insurgent armies and plain, old-fashioned bandits, it is currently the source of around half the world's illicit opiates, as well as a major production centre for amphetamines and other drugs. In recent years opium production in Laos has seen something of an increase, whilst in neighbouring Thailand it has been cut back almost to nothing. Burma, however, remains far and away the largest producer in the Golden Triangle, and illicit Burmese opiates, most notably heroin, continue to poison hundreds of thousands of addicts from the hills of Shan State to the streets of New York.

起先西方对这个地区的目标集中于钻石、象牙，当然首先是鸦片，如今鸦片已声名鹊起并广泛地为人们所接受。以其知名度，确切地说，这是个人迹罕至的地方。是毒品军阀，军火商人，武装暴徒和旧时代平民土匪出没的地方。是当今世界上约一半非法鸦片制品的产地，也是安非他明[一种类似鸦片的麻醉品]和其他毒品的一个主要产地。近年来老挝的鸦片产量有所增长，而其邻国泰国大量削减其产量已经所剩无已。然而缅甸仍然是“金三角”最大的鸦片生产国，并且从掸邦[缅甸的一个少数民族]的深山到纽约的街头，非法的缅甸鸦片制品和臭名昭著的海洛因仍然在毒害着成千上万的“隐君子”。

Opium has been recognised as a narcotic for at least two thousand years. It is thought to have grown wild in the mountains of the eastern Mediterranean from Neolithic times, and was known to both the early Greeks and Romans. It was probably introduced to both China and India by Arab traders about a thousand years ago, and soon came to be widely valued for its medicinal properties. Although it flourished in the cool, nutrient-poor hills of south-west China, it did not become a serious problem until the 18th century when Britain, seeking a way to pay for Chinese tea shipments other than with silver, began exporting opium from India to China on a massive scale. The situation was compounded as both Britain and France established colonies in Southeast Asia during the latter half of the 19th century. In Burma the British first encouraged and then prohibited opium consumption in the Burman heartland, but permitted unrestricted usage in indirectly administered areas such as the Shan States. The French, for their part, encouraged opium cultivation in their Indochinese colonies, making opium a state monopoly. As a consequence opium production, consumption and export boomed in the 'Golden Triangle' region, as well as in the neighbouring Chinese province of Yunnan.

鸦片视作为麻醉剂已至少有二千年。据认为从新石器时代起鸦片就在地中海东部的山上广泛地生长了，并为早期的古希腊人和古罗马人所了解。在大约一千年前，鸦片可能由阿拉伯商人引入到中国和印度，并很快因其药物特性而引起广泛地重视。尽管它茂盛地生长在寒冷贫脊的中国西南的丛山中，但它并没有成为严重的问题，直到18世纪，当英国人为寻求一种不用银币来偿付中国茶叶出口的途径，并开始大规模地把鸦片从印度出口到中国时（问题才变得严重起来）。这种情况由于在19世纪后半叶，英法在东南亚殖民地的建立而变得更糟。在缅甸，英国人先是鼓励再是禁止鸦片在缅甸中部地区的消费，但是允许在非直属管辖区如掸邦地区不受限制地使用。而对法国人来说，他们则鼓励在其印尼殖民地种植鸦片，使其成为国家专卖品。其结果是鸦片的生产消费和出口在“金三角”地区迅速兴起，也包括在邻近的中国云南省。

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注：缅甸的毒品问题也是当今世界主要的问题之一。因为涉及许多敏感问题，尽管美国极力要求缅甸政府采取措施，但缅甸等国都十分谨慎处理此事。现在种植鸦片主要由佤邦军控制，迫于各方面压力，其承诺在2005年使“金三角”成为无毒区。但似乎可能性极小。
另，本文中的shan state查了梁实秋的大辞典，意为―――掸邦。而不是现在我们所说的佤邦，不知是否是同一邦？